| Liza Minnelli  AKA Liza May Minnelli
Born: 12-Mar-1946
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Singer, Actor Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Cabaret The daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, and the goddaughter of Ira Gershwin, Minnelli was raised on sets and in studios, and made her film debut at age 2½, in her mother's In the Good Old Summertime. She was five when her parents divorced, and shuttled between them for the rest of her childhood. She was 18 when her aunt (Garland's sister) committed suicide, and 23 when her mother overdosed on barbiturates.
Minnelli sang on stage with her mother as a teen in London, and their album Live at the London Palladium is a double-nova star turn with both singers at their best. She made her Broadway debut at 19 in Flora, The Red Menace, and won a Tony for her performance. Minnelli later starred in the Broadway runs of Chicago and Victor/Victoria. She has gone on to win three Tonys, including a special award in 1974 "for adding luster to the Broadway season". In films, Minelli is probably best known as Dudley Moore's long-suffering girlfriend and wife in Arthur and Arthur 2: On the Rocks. She won an Oscar in 1972 as Best Actress for Caberet, and won an Emmy in 1973 for her Bob Fosse-produced special, Liza with a 'Z'. She is the only Oscar-winner whose parents were also both Oscar winners.
In addition to her lengthy list of performing accomplishments, Minnelli is also perceived as one of the strangest celebrities of our time. She hung out at Andy Warhol's studio, did cocaine and other recreational drugs, and has battled alcoholism for decades.
Her mother introduced Minnelli to Broadway and pop songwriter Peter Allen, who became Minnelli's first husband. He was already widely rumored to be gay when they married, and reportedly spent their wedding night with a boyfriend. Minnelli & Allen eventually divorced, but remained friends until his death from AIDS. Her second husband, Jack Haley, Jr., was the son of the actor who played The Tin Man in her mother's The Wizard of Oz. Her third husband was Mark Gero, whose father had been the stage manager for her Broadway debut years earlier.
Her fourth husband, concert producer David Gest, collects Shirley Temple memorabilia, and Tito and Michael Jackson shared best man duties at their wedding. While Gest and Minnelli were married, VH1 planned to air a reality show set in their reality, but the show was scuttled before its debut. According to VH1's lawsuit, Gest's behavior went "far beyond the acceptable bounds of show business eccentricity" -- he demanded that VH1 pay for his wardrobe, would not allow crew members to sit on the furniture, and repeatedly disrupted filming when he felt he did not look his best. During their divorce, Gest accused Minnelli of repeatedly beating him while they were married, while she claimed he had stolen $2 million.
In 2002, Minnelli was sued by Vincente Minnelli's widow, Lee Anderson Minnelli, for elder abuse, refusing to pay housekeeping or utility bills, and allowing her stepmother's Sunset Boulevard house to fall into disrepair. In 2004, Minnelli was sued by M'hammed Soumayah, her former bodyguard and chauffeur, who alleged that he was forced to have sex with Minnelli as a condition for keeping his job. He also alleged that Minnelli repeatedly beat him.
Minnelli is almost as much a gay icon as her mother was, and there have long been whispers that she may be bisexual. She provided the voice of Dorothy for the 1974 animated sequel Journey Back to Oz, with Garland's long-time co-star Mickey Rooney as the Scarecrow, and Margaret Hamilton -- the original Wicked Witch of the West -- as Aunt Em.
Minnelli has had at least two hip replacement surgeries, surgery to repair vocal cord damage, and several surgeries to repair dance-induced knee injuries.
Father: Vincente Minnelli (film director)
Mother: Judy Garland (actress)
Father: Sidney Luft (stepfather, producer, married to Garland 1952-65)
Sister: Lorna Luft (Broadway performer, half-sister, b. 21-Nov-1952 to Garland & Luft)
Brother: Joey Luft (half-brother, b. 29-Mar-1955 to Garland & Luft)
Father: Mark Herron (stepfather, actor, married to Garland 1965-66)
Father: Mickey Devinko (stepfather, "Mickey Deans", disco promoter, married Garland 15-Mar-1969)
Mother: Georgette Magnani (stepmother, married to V. Minnelli 1954--57)
Sister: Christiana Nina Minnelli (half-sister, b. 1955 to V. Minnelli & Magnani)
Mother: Denise Minnelli (stepmother, married to V. Minnelli 1962-71)
Mother: Lee Anderson (stepmother, married to V. Minnelli 1980)
Husband: Peter Allen (composer, m. 3-Mar-1967, sep. 1969, div. 1974)
Boyfriend: Desi Arnaz, Jr. (actor, dated 1971-72)
Boyfriend: Peter Sellers (actor, dated in 1973)
Husband: Jack Haley, Jr. (director-producer, m. 15-Sep-1974, div. 1979)
Slept with: Charles Aznavour (French singer-songwriter, reported affair while married to Haley)
Slept with: Martin Scorsese (film director, reported affair while married to Haley)
Slept with: Mikhail Baryshnikov (ballet dancer, reported affair while married to Haley)
Boyfriend: Billy Stritch (composer-songwriter, dated in late 1970s)
Husband: Mark Gero (sculptor, m. 4-Dec-1979, div. 27-Jan-1992)
Boyfriend: Gene Simmons (musician, reported affair while married to Gero)
Slept with: M'hammed Soumayah (bodyguard-chauffeur, coerced into sex in 1990s, according to him)
Husband: David Gest (concert producer, m. 16-Mar-2002, separated 2003, div. 2007)
High School: Chadwick School, Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA
Alcoholics Anonymous
Friars Club 1988
Endorsement of Revlon 1987
Oscar for Best Actress 1973 for Cabaret
Emmy 1973 for Liza with a 'Z' with Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb
Grammy
Golden Globe 1973 for Cabaret
Golden Globe 1986 for A Time to Live
Tony
Betty Ford Center 1984
Caron Foundation
Hazelden 1985
Silver Hill Hospital
Funeral: Andy Warhol (1987)
Miscarriage twice
Hip Replacement Surgery
Knee Replacement
Wedding: Larry Fortensky and Elizabeth Taylor (1991)
Wedding: David Gest and Liza Minnelli (2002)
Risk Factors: Alcoholism, Cocaine, Smoking
TELEVISION
Arrested Development
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Halston (26-Jan-2019) · Herself
Sex and the City 2 (27-May-2010) · Herself
Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston (Apr-2010) · Herself
Chris & Don: A Love Story (31-Aug-2007) · Herself
The OH in Ohio (2006)
Jackie's Back! (14-Jun-1999) · Herself
The West Side Waltz (23-Nov-1995)
Parallel Lives (14-Aug-1994)
Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (20-Apr-1992) · Herself
Stepping Out (30-Sep-1991)
Arthur 2: On the Rocks (8-Jul-1988) · Linda Marolla Bach
Rent-a-Cop (15-Jan-1988)
Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night (6-Aug-1987) [VOICE]
That's Dancing! (18-Jan-1985) · Herself
The Muppets Take Manhattan (13-Jul-1984) · Surprise Cameo
Arthur (17-Jul-1981) · Linda Marolla
New York, New York (21-Jun-1977) · Francine Evans
A Matter of Time (31-Oct-1976)
Silent Movie (16-Jun-1976) · Herself
Lucky Lady (25-Dec-1975)
Journey Back to Oz (5-Dec-1974) [VOICE]
That's Entertainment! (23-May-1974) · Herself
Cabaret (13-Feb-1972) · Sally Bowles
Liza with a "Z" (1972) · Herself
Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (11-May-1970)
The Sterile Cuckoo (22-Oct-1969) · Pookie Adams
Charlie Bubbles (Jul-1967)
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